1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a wearable insulin delivering button. In particular, it is concerned with a wearable, disposable insulin reservoir and administration device for use in connection with delivering a dosage of insulin or medicament to a patient discreetly and efficiently.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Wearable, disposable insulin reservoir and administration devices are desirable for providing a user or patient an efficient and discreet device for delivering a dose of insulin or other medicament, while allowing for the quick replacement of the device when depleted.
Diabetes is a chronic disease that is characterized by the body's inability to control glucose levels. Left untreated, it causes damage to the circulatory and nervous systems and results in organ failures, amputations, neuropathy, blindness and eventually death. It has been definitively shown that the cost of the complications related to diabetes significantly exceeds the cost of therapy.
Tight control over the delivery of insulin in both type I diabetes (usually juvenile onset) and type II diabetes (usually late adult onset), has been shown to improve the quality of life as well as the general health of these patients. Proper control of blood glucose levels through programmed insulin injection or infusion allows a high quality of life and longer life expectancy.
Insulin delivery has been dominated by subcutaneous injections of both long acting insulin to cover the basal needs of the patient and by short acting insulin to compensate for meals and snacks. There are two standard systems of daily insulin therap.
The first being syringes and insulin pens. These devices are simple to use and are relatively low in cost, but they require a needle stick at each injection, typically multiple times per day. These device must be carried by the user, so thereby putting the burden on the user to carry enough devices to sustain there activities away from home or medical facilities.
The second and most recent development is infusion pump therapy, which entails the purchase of an expensive pump that lasts for about three years. External insulin infusion pumps have allowed the continuous infusion of fast acting insulin for the maintenance of the basal needs as well as the compensatory doses (boluses) for meals and snacks. However, they suffer the drawbacks of being large in size, cost, and high complexity. For example, these pumps are electronically controlled and must be programmed to supply the desired amounts of basal and bolus insulin. This prevents many patients from accepting this technology over the standard subcutaneous injections. Additionally, the initial cost of the pump is a high barrier for many patients.
Several attempts have been made to provide ambulatory or “wearable” drug infusion devices. This type of wearable device can provide many of the advantages of an infusion pump without its disadvantages. However, many of these known devices cannot provide precise control over the dosage delivery of the drug at a low delivery cost, and are thus not practical with dose-critical drugs such as insulin.
While the above-described devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not describe a wearable, disposable insulin reservoir and administration device that allows delivering a dosage of insulin or medicament to a user discreetly and efficiently.
Therefore, a need exists for a new and improved wearable, disposable insulin reservoir and administration device that can be used for delivering a dosage of insulin or medicament to a user discreetly and efficiently. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need. In this respect, the wearable, disposable insulin reservoir and administration device according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of delivering a dosage of insulin or medicament to a user discreetly and efficiently.